Unit 1 1 Ancient Games

Game Art and Design
Unit 1 Lesson 1
Ancient Games
2014 International Technology and Engineering Educators Association

STEMCenter for Teaching and Learning
Big Idea
Knowledge of the history of technology and
societies helps people understand the
world around them by seeing how people
of all times and places have increased their
capability by using their unique skills to
innovate, improvise, and invent.
2011
Association,
Ancient Roman Games
2011 International Technology and Engineering Educators Association,

Tabula
Race game similar to todays
Backgammon
Dates back several centuries BCE
Tabula means Table or Board
Was called Alea, meaning gambling
Evolved directly from Duodecim
Scriptorum
Similar to Egyptian game Senet
2011
Association,
Tabula

Tabula Gameplay
Each player has 15 pieces
Move counterclockwise
Three dice are thrown- numbers
determine the moves of between one and
three pieces.
Any part of a throw not used is lost; but a
player must use the whole value if
possible
If a player lands on an enemy piece, the
enemy piece is removed and has to reenter on the next throw
2011
Association,
Tabula Gameplay
If two or more pieces are on a spot, the
position is safe from the enemy, and can
not be captured
No player may enter the second half of
the board until all pieces have entered
No player may exit the board until all
pieces have entered the last quarter. If a
single piece is hit, the remaining pieces
are frozen in the last quarter until it reenters and catches up
2011
Association,
Nine Men Morris

Abstract strategy game for two players
Emerged from the Roman Empire
Each player has nine pieces, or "men"
that move among the board's 24
intersections
The object of the game is to leave the
opposing player with fewer than three
pieces or no legal moves
2011
Association,
Nine Men Morris

Caculi (Ludus Calculorum)

This game is the familiar game of "Five
in a Row," which was played on the
same boards as Latrunculi
Named Calculi, which means "stones"
(or "pebbles" or "counters") in Latin
The Romans referred to this game as
ludus calculorum, "the game of stones
First player to line up five stones in a
row in any direction wins
2011
Association,
Caculi Board

Caculi Gameplay
The traditional rules of Calculi, or "Five
in a Row," are as follows:
Black plays first
First person to line up five stones in a
row orthogonally or diagonally wins
It is illegal to make a "double openended three" unless one is forced
If the board is filled, the game is a
draw
2011
Association,
Duodecim Scripta
Duodecim Scripta means "Twelve Lines"
or Twelve Lines of the Philosophers
and was played on a board
Two players sat across from each other
and placed their 15 black or white pieces
(presumably stacked) on the first square
on their side of the board
Three dice are tossed and players move
their pieces according to the throw
2011
Association,
Duodecim Scripta
Gameplay
The object was to get all of one's pieces
across the board to the final square
If you landed on a square that had an
opponent's piece already on it, that
piece would return to square one
If two or more opponents' pieces were
already on the square, then it could not
be occupied
2011
Association,
Tesserae
Dice are made from ivory
and come from Egypt
Date from between the
1st century BC and the
4th century AD, during
the Roman era
At the Metropolitan
Museum of Art in New
York
2011
Association,
Tesserae
Playing dice was very popular game
among the Romans
The Romans called these tesserae, but
they also had a type with only four
marked faces called tali
The only difference between these
Roman dice and modern dice is that the
numbers were arranged such that any
two opposite sides would add up to
seven
2011
Association,
Tesserae

Knucklebones
Game uses ankle bones of a sheep
Values are assigned to different sides of
the bones
The highest throw is called a Venus
and consists of four bones all showing
different sides
First to throw a Venus wins the post
Different combinations added to the pot
2011
Association,
Knucklebones

Terni Lapilli
Considered to be identical to modern
Tic-Tac-Toe
Boards are found scratched on walls,
floors, and roofs, no Xs and Os
accompany the markings
A Terni Lapilli board was recently
uncovered in the British Museum, which
included four blue pieces and five red
pieces
2011
Association,
Ancient Aztec Games
2011
Association,
Patolli
One of the oldest games
Played by commoners and nobles alike
Montezuma reportedly enjoyed watching
the nobles play in a game at court
A race/war game with a focus on
gambling on blankets, stones, or food
2011
Association,
Patolli

Patolli Gameplay
The object is for one player to win all of
the opponent's treasure
A player needs to get all of the six jade
markers from the start to the ending
position before the other player.
In order to get one of the jade stone
markers on the board, the player tosses
five specially dented kidney beans on
the game area
2011
Association,
Aztec Ball Game

Was a revision of an ancient
Mesoamerican game played by Mayans
Originated with the ancient Olmec
civilization
A very important part of the Aztec
Empire, not just as entertainment, but
for political and religious reasons
2011
Association,
Aztec Ball Game

When Aztecs started a new settlement:
first, they built a shrine to the god
Huitzilopochtli, and then built a ball
court next to it
In Tenochtitlan it was surrounded by the
palace and temple. The Aztec ball
game, known as Ullamaliztli, was a
priority
2011
Association,
Aztec Ball Game
2011
Association,
Aztec Ball Game Gameplay

The object of was to get
a rubber ball through a
stone hoop using all
body parts except the
hands
The ball can never touch
the ground
Points were awarded for
skillful plays
2011
Association,
Aztec Ball Game
Term "sudden death" may

come from this game
Coach of losing team, by fate
of the gods, is decapitated
The Maya, Aztecs, and
Huaxtecs all participated
The streams of blood emerge
from the severed neck as
serpents in the carving
2011
Association,
Other Ancient Games

Royal Game of Ur
One of the earliest board games
Played in Mesopotamia before 2600 BC
Discovered by Sir Leonard Woolley
-1920s near the ancient city of Ur
We do not know the games rules
Played with two sets of seven markers
and three pyramidal dice
Race game that predates Backgammon
2011
Association,
Royal Game of Ur

Senet
Popular in Ancient Egypt
Board has 30 squares
Object - get one's pieces on the board,
around the board in an S-shaped
pattern, and off again at the far end.
Required strategy as well as chance.
Most common playing pieces were five
cone-shaped and five reel-shaped pieces
2011
Association,
Senet

Mancala
Family of board games played around
the world, sometimes called sowing
games or count and capture games
Played in Africa and the Middle East
Also found in Egyptian tombs
Dated back to between the 6th and 7th
century AD
Word mancala comes from the Arabic
word naqala meaning literally "to move"
2011
Association,
Mancala
2011
Association,
Mancala Gameplay
Mancala games share a gameplay
sequence of picking up all seeds from a
hole, then sowing seeds one at a time
from a hole
The object is usually to capture more
stones than the opponent or to leave the
opponent with no legal move or to have
your side empty first in order to win
2011
Association,
Shatranj
Is an old form of Chess popular in Persia
for almost a 1000 years
The word shatranj is derived from the
Sanskrit chaturanga (chatuH=four,
anga= arm)
The game came to Persia from India, in
the early centuries of the Christian Era
2011
Association,
Shatranj

Tafl
Germanic and Celtic game played on a
checkered board with two teams of
uneven strength
Size of board and number of pieces
varies, but all games involve a 2:1 ratio
with the lesser side having a king-piece
starting in the center
The Kings objective is to escape while
the opponents job was to capture him
2011
Association,
Tafl

Liubo
Liubo is a ancient Chinese board game
with long-forgotten rules
The name comes from the Chinese word
for sticks
2011
Association,
Liubo
2011
Association,
Chaturanga
Ancient Indian game - common ancestor
of chess
Played since the 6th century or earlier;
is most commonly believed to be the
oldest version of chess
In Sanskrit, "Chatur-anga-bala" literally
means "an army comprising four parts
(elephants, chariots, cavalry, and
infantry)
2011
Association,
Go
From China 2,000 years ago
Players alternately place black and white
stones on vacant intersections of a
1919 grid board
The object of the game is to control a
larger part of the board and strive to
place stones in such a way that they
cannot be captured.
Players map out territories the opponent
cannot invade without being captured
2011
Association,
Go

Seega
From Egypt and other parts of the
Middle East
A simple game involving plenty of
strategy
In Egypt, 5x5 game boards were
common, while 7x7 or 9x9 boards do
exist
The larger boards are more complex,
and created a greater challenge for the
players
2011
Association,
Seega

Seega Gameplay
Similar to checkers, players try to capture
opponents pieces
The game ends when a player (the loser)
has only one piece left
To start, the first player lays down two of
his or her pieces in the squares marked
"X"
The other player lays down two pieces in
the squares marked "O"
2011
Association,
Seega Gameplay
Players take turns laying down two pieces
at a time in any square but the center until
all the pieces are laid
The center square is left open
Pieces may be moved only to adjacent open
squares; diagonal moves are not allowed
A piece is taken (removed from the board)
when it is "sandwiched" by two of the
opponents pieces
2011
Association,
Big Idea
Knowledge of the history of technology and
societies helps people understand the
world around them by seeing how people
of all times and places have increased their
capability by using their unique skills to
innovate, improvise, and invent.
2011
Association,
Game Art and Design

Unit 1 Lesson 1
Ancient Games
Images
Reproduced with permission from http://www.aerobiologicalengineering.com/


Unit 1 1 Ancient Games

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Unit 1 1 Ancient Games

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Game Art and Design

2014 International Technology and Engineering Educators Association

Ancient Roman Games

2011 International Technology and Engineering Educators Association,

2011 International Technology and Engineering Educators Association,

Nine Men Morris

Nine Men Morris

2011 International Technology and Engineering Educators Association,

Caculi (Ludus Calculorum)

2011 International Technology and Engineering Educators Association,

2011 International Technology and Engineering Educators Association,

2011 International Technology and Engineering Educators Association,

Ancient Aztec Games

2011 International Technology and Engineering Educators Association,

Aztec Ball Game

Aztec Ball Game

Aztec Ball Game

Aztec Ball Game Gameplay

Aztec Ball Game

Term "sudden death" may

Other Ancient Games

2011 International Technology and Engineering Educators Association,

2011 International Technology and Engineering Educators Association,

2011 International Technology and Engineering Educators Association,

2011 International Technology and Engineering Educators Association,

2011 International Technology and Engineering Educators Association,

2011 International Technology and Engineering Educators Association,

2011 International Technology and Engineering Educators Association,

Game Art and Design

2014 International Technology and Engineering Educators Association

You might also like